Help fire victims in Jackson Heights

From early on, Aida and Eddy Pagan unpack the food they have brought for breakfast. It is offered to families evicted by the great fire at a building on 89th Street in Jackson Heights a month ago.

“The rooms are small, they don’t have a way to cook, they don’t have a refrigerator. They don’t have anything to cook, so they have to eat out every day, ”explained Aída Pagán.

About 15 families live temporarily in this hotel out of the more than 200 families who lost their homes during the fire and who have been temporarily housed in hotels in Queens and Brooklyn.

Aida has been helping out at this hotel in Bayside, especially because of how far it is for other organizations to get here with prepared food.

His entity, the Pagan Hunger Relief Initiative, with the support of his Beacon Church, has raised funds to provide breakfast to these families twice a week.

“The children who are in the hotel also need food, they need a healthy breakfast,” added Aida.

Wilson Gómez is one of those affected. He is here with his wife and two children. He is unemployed and explains that the situation has been difficult because the restaurants in the area are very expensive.

“It is not like eating a meal from home, because the truth is not easy but thank God how important we are there,” said Wilson.

Thanks to the efforts of Aida and her husband, and another organization, the COVID Care Neighbor Network, Wilson’s family has not only received food. He has also been able to recover even the birth certificate and a computer for his children.

COVID Care has taken it upon themselves to help these families retrieve their documents, find a new home, and even provide furniture donated by Jackson Heights residents.